The Obama administration claims to be concerned about the environment. One need only look at its commitment [1] to green energy subsidies [2] to understand how totally serious they are about taking care of the world in which we all live.
This commitment to the environment is one of the president’s most defining qualities. That’s why I was shocked to learn that the president is seeking to prop up an industry [3] that is directly responsible for devastating environmental impact.
President Obama on Monday unveiled a plan to save the U.S. Postal Service and its employees from insolvency — a plan that includes the possible end of Saturday mail service.
More than half [4] of the mail that the Post Office delivers is what it euphemistically refers to as “advertising mail.” You and I call it “junk mail.”
But perhaps a more appropriate name for it might be “Murder the Earth” mail. According to a group called Do Not Mail [5], this Murder the Earth mail is murdering the earth [6]:
Junk mail destroys natural resources far out of proportion to the service it provides. 100 million trees a year are sacrificed to produce the 6.5 millions tons of paper that is made into junk mail every year. The greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the manufacture of junk mail are equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions of 3.7 million cars.
Many of the trees used for junk mail come from Endangered Forests like the Canadian Boreal and Indonesia’s Tropical Forest.
The Canadian Boreal is part of the greater Boreal, which stores more carbon than any other terrestrial ecosystem on earth, providing a crucial defense against global warming. Deforestation of Indonesia’s Tropical Forest is responsible for 8% of all global carbon emissions. Both the Boreal and Indonesia’s Forests are home to indigenous communities whose culture and livelihoods are threatened. Both provide critical habitat for species such as caribou, tigers and orangutans.
When we elected Barack Obama our president, we thought [7] we were getting a leader who took seriously the horror of climate change. He told us himself that he was going to slow the rise of the oceans and begin to heal the planet [8].
Instead, he is fighting to funnel more money into an industry that directly profits from the destruction of our natural resources.
Climate change kills an estimated 150,000 people [9] every year. That number is expected to increase [10] over the next 60 years. And yet, our president has presented a plan to “save” an industry that is literally murdering people, and destroying the planet. If Mr. Obama is determined to save the Post Office, then he will have to live with the blood that will inevitably be on his hands.
And now we learn that the Post Office has created commercials [11] that tout its “Murder the Earth” business model as something it’s actually proud of. It’s disgusting enough that the Post Office is making most of its money by helping to kill people all over the world, but do they have to be so brazen about it? What’s next– a commercial featuring Halliburton [12]‘s “The Defense Contractor Next Door Who’s Actually Your Friend, and Not Trying to Profit from the Deaths of People”?
The menace of the Post Office must be stopped at all costs. Our health, our safety, our future depends on it. Please do the right thing, Mr. Obama.
The children are waiting [13].
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Ricky Sprague [16]
Latest posts by Ricky Sprague (Posts [20])
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- New Philip K. Dick novel too absurd to be believed [24] - September 17, 2012
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